In Malaysia, it can be difficult to get to the truth if you’re a politician grappling with internal party jostling while also facing the court of public opinion. Prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim is no stranger to this, having been jailed not once but twice over the course of his career for sodomy, a crime harking back to Malaysia’s colonial era.
Rumours about Anwar’s sexuality continue to hound him, despite receiving a royal pardon after his Pakatan Harapan coalition swept to an unprecedented election victory in May 2018. Most recently the 72-year-old member of Parliament was accused of sexual harassment by a 26-year-old man.
Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, a former researcher with Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), filed a police report saying Anwar made sexual advances towards him and outraged his modesty in late 2018.
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Anwar denied the charges, describing the accusation as “politics at its worst”, designed to scuttle his planned takeover of the premiership from Mahathir Mohamad, 94.
Malaysian prime minister in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attend a press conference at the end of a presidential council meeting in November. Photo: EPA-EFE
Yusoff submitted to a four-hour polygraph test over the course of police investigations last December – a test that sparked a national debate over whether the results should be made public and the possibility they could be used if the matter went to trial.
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Following the incident, opposition members encouraged Anwar to follow suit and submit to a polygraph test himself, while Malaysia’s top police official had to deny speculation that Yusoff had somehow cheated on the test.
